Even More Details On The Cancelled Spider-Man 4’s Villains Have Emerged

Now, a few days ago, from , made their way onto the interweb, and began to make quite a few waves. With glimpses of some of the film’s potential villains, as well as a rumored-to-be-played-by-Anne Hathway love interest, the artwork – by long-time Raimi collaborator (and acclaimed illustrator) – provides one of our best glimpses yet at just what we might have seen.

It’s also, however, prompted far more media interest in the old-school Spider-project than we’ve seen in years – and, as it happens, an interview with Henderson himself with , that has revealed some fascinating details about the movie’s potential villains.

Specifically…

It Turns Out That We Would Have Seen A LOT Of C-List Spider-Villains

Y’see, according to Henderson, Mysterio (pictured above) wasn’t set to be a major villain in the movie at all. Instead, he was being lined up as a Bruce Campbell cameo…as part of a montage-based array of classic Spider-villains:

“A montage of C and D- list villains that we knew would never be used as main antagonists: Mysterio, the Shocker, the Prowler, the old school-onesie-wearing version of the Rhino, maybe even the Stilt Man, etc.”

Which, to be honest, would have been both incredibly cool – who doesn’t want to see Stilt Man on the big screen? – and kind of a shame. After all, characters like Mysterio, Rhino and The Shocker could all – if utilized properly by, say, Marvel Studios – prove to be excellent main villains at some point. What’s more, The Prowler ultimately turned into an intriguing hero, and – especially in recent Spider-comics – a close Spider-ally.

If Mysterio wasn’t the movie’s big bad, though, then who was? Well…

It Seems The Vulture Was Being Lined Up As Spidey’s Toughest Opponent Yet

Now, sure, The Vulture is technically just an old guy in a bird costume – but that hasn’t stopped him being a persistently interesting and dangerous opponent for Spidey in the comic-books. A detail, it seems, that Raimi was keen to bring to life on the big screen:

“The thing we kept coming back to was that, as a character, everyone was going to dismiss the Vulture as just an old guy in a silly green suit…so we wanted to go the opposite way and really make him the most fearsome and formidable adversary that Spider-Man had faced in the series.”